by Alex Archer
“A hundred years ago, give or take, on a salvage ship in the Aegean Sea.”
16
“A hundred years?” Garin was nearly shouting. Annja took the phone from her ear, put it on speaker and laid it on the bed. “Do you truly expect me to remember someone I met in passing a hundred years ago?”
“It wasn’t in passing,” Roux argued. “We had business with the Andrianous. Or, I suppose I should say, I had business with that wretched family. Thieves and murderers were what they were. And they still are.”
Annja took in a breath and let it out. “Who is Melina Andrianou and what is her interest in the clockwork?”
“She’s a stone-cold killer,” Garin answered. “Apparently Roux knows all about her.”
“Not all about her.” Roux sounded distracted. “She is one of the most vicious, cruel women I have ever met. It would have been better if you killed her.”
“If she isn’t dead, it’s not from lack of my trying.”
“If I had been there, she would have been dead. I would have made certain of it before I left.”
“You weren’t there, though, were you? It was me, and I was up against her without benefit of your knowledge.”
Roux ignored that. “Do you still have the clockwork?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Because I’ll need it.”
“No.”
“‘No’?” Roux’s growl tore through the phone line.
“No. The clockwork is mine. I have it. I’m not about to give it to you.”
“You don’t know what to do with it.”
“Then tell me.”
Roux cursed. “That clockwork isn’t for you.”
“Then who is it for?”
Annja wanted to know the answer to that, as well. Although she was having a little trouble tracking the conversation because it kept shifting from English to French to German and back again. She didn’t think Roux and Garin even noticed the shifts.
After a tense moment, Roux said, “That is one of the things I hope to find out. With Annja’s help.”
“But I’ve got the clockwork,” Garin said.
“Garin, surely you can see this is beyond you. Listen to me regarding this. It’s very dangerous.”
“I’ve got the clockwork.”
Roux cursed again.
“Not only that,” Garin said, “Melina Andrianou knows me by name. I was staying at the hotel under an alias. I dealt with the man who found the clockwork under a different alias. Yet she was able to find me. And she found you, as well.”
“She found me because you called me. All it took was for someone to hack phone records to get to me. That was no big feat. You unleashed her hounds on me.”
“For someone to hack me—” Garin cursed “—is bigger than you realize.”
Sitting on her bed in the hotel room, Annja knew she was relatively safe. But her gaze kept straying to the clock butterfly on the tablet PC screen. “Guys, hold on. Stop the bickering.”
The other two quieted.
“Evidently this clockwork butterfly means something to both of you, and now you’ve got me interested. You’ve also got this Melina Andrianou on the hook, and she’s trying to kill you both. Maybe we should pool our resources and—”
“Nonsense,” Roux huffed.
“I’m not working with him,” Garin replied. “No matter what, he’s not going to tell you the truth. He’ll look you squarely in the eye and lie about these clockwork devices. In almost six hundred years, he’s never told me why artifacts like this strike such fear in his heart. We’re better off trying to figure this out ourselves. Now that I finally have one of them.”
“I’m willing to help,” she continued, “but trying to help only one of you is going to mean letting go of some piece of this puzzle. And with someone on your tail, you’re running out of time.” She smiled. “Clockwork. Running out of time. See what I did there?”
Obviously Roux wasn’t impressed with her wordplay. “What you’re suggesting isn’t going to work.”
“We’re not interested in working together on this. I have the clockwork.” Indignation laced Garin’s words.
“Remember there’s a third party,” Annja reminded them. “Garin, does Melina Andrianou know who you got the clockwork from?”
Garin hesitated. “Possibly. She used the buy as an opportunity to try to kill me this morning.”
“Obviously she didn’t manage to do that.”
“It was a valiant effort.”
Roux harrumphed again. “You don’t know what a true effort is until you’ve sat in one of their dungeons. Then you would know.”
Annja hurried on before Garin could one-up Roux. “Why would she try to kill you?”
“I don’t know,” Garin said. “To get the clockwork, I suppose.”
“She might have been able to get that without killing you. She made an effort to kill you.”
“Two efforts.”
“Which begs the question—what made this so personal for a woman you say you’ve never met?”
“Because,” Roux said, “Melina Andrianou knew who he was.”
“What do you mean?”
Roux sighed. “The Andrianou family’s involvement with the clockworks goes back a hundred years. The head of the family lived in the Aegean Sea at the turn of the twentieth century. Even back then, the Andrianous were salvagers, though they didn’t mind the occasional act of piracy. They would attack boats out in the islands, kill everyone aboard, then claim the boat as salvage.”
“Not exactly your average family.”
“Certainly not. They were a bloodthirsty lot back then, and obviously subsequent generations haven’t improved with age.”
“And yet you worked with them.”
“I didn’t know about their history of violence till later. I barely escaped with my life then, and six years ago Melina Andrianou nearly killed me. If it weren’t for Garin, I would have probably died. If, indeed, that is possible.” Roux’s voice dropped. “I owe her a great deal of anguish. Of course, she feels the same way about me.”
“Why?”
“I killed her father six years ago.”
“You...ah, I see. And she was there?”
“She was. She had tortured me for days. When I finally had the chance to escape, I took it. Her father got in the way. I tried to kill her, too, but she was quick.”
“Let’s go back to a hundred years ago. How did you come to know the Andrianou family?”
“I hired them to work for me.”
“To rob and kill someone?” Garin asked.
“For a salvage operation. I found a sunken ship I wanted searched. They provided the means. I didn’t know about their penchant for piracy back then.”
“Wait.” Garin finally sounded calm. “The shipwreck in the Aegean. I remember that. I was there.”
“For part of the salvage,” Roux replied irritably, “yes, you were. But not for all of it. You departed rather suddenly.”
“I remember there was a girl,” Garin mused. “A very beautiful girl.”
“You were along for the expedition for a few days. Then you met Iambe.”
“Iambe.” Softness infused the name when Garin said it. “I’d forgotten her name.” He chuckled. “She was a fine, fine young woman. Really good in the—”
“Stop,” Annja interrupted him. “We get it. You met a girl.”
“Yes, he did,” Roux said in accusation. “At the time he couldn’t get enough of her. He disappeared shortly after meeting her.”
I’ll bet that happens a lot. Annja chose to keep her observation to herself.
“I never saw you again till after the Andrianou family nearly killed me.”
“She was a bea
utiful girl,” Garin replied.
“She was,” Roux agreed. “Yet you should have been with me.”
“I didn’t know you found a clockwork.”
“I did.”
“What was it?”
“A snail. A wonderfully intricate African snail. It was over a foot long, life-size. Truly one of the most elegant creations I have ever seen.”
The idea of foot-long snails didn’t sit well with Annja. Especially since having come across them in the sub-Sahara in Africa.
“What happened to the snail?” Garin asked.
“They tried to steal it from me, doubtless thinking that it would be worth a fabulous sum. To the right people, it would have been, but they didn’t know those people. During the scuffle for the snail, it...imploded...I guess would be the best description.”
Annja looked at the image of the butterfly again. She didn’t see anything in it that looked in any way like an explosive.
“Almost capsized the salvage vessel in the process,” he continued. “Killed a few of the crewmen, as well as two members of the Andrianou family. That was when they swore eternal enmity toward me. And Garin.”
“Why me?” Garin protested. “I wasn’t there.”
“The Andrianou family thought we were related. Father and son.”
“Father and grandson.”
Roux sniffed. “Whatever. That’s really not important. What is important is that the Andrianous intend to see you and me dead. Me and my family. If we had not left Greece immediately, you would have seen that.” He paused. “And perhaps now they’ll want to kill Annja, as well.”
That surprised her. “Me? I wasn’t even born when you guys met the Andrianous. And by their reckoning, you should be dead...or at least in a nursing home. Both of you, by the way.”
“It won’t matter. If the Andrianous can find Garin under his Braden identity, we have to assume they will eventually pinpoint you, as well. They’re really very lethal, Annja. You will be in danger till we resolve this.”
“Terrific.” Annja took a deep breath and let it out, thinking furiously. “It doesn’t make sense that Melina Andrianou would pursue a clockwork butterfly so hard if all it’s going to do is implode.”
“Self-destruction wasn’t something the device had been constructed to do,” Roux said. “That was surprising. Of course, there may have been other factors in play that I didn’t know about.”
“What factors?”
“How would I know?” Roux snapped.
“Then what had the snail been designed to do?”
“I’m not certain, but the clockwork snail had...qualities...about it that affected several people aboard the salvage ship.”
“What qualities?”
“Each of the affected crew had a dream that revealed something of their future to them. At least, each was under the impression it did. They were alarmed to discover they had all dreamed portentiously the night after our discovery of the clockwork.” Roux sighed. “Unfortunately, not all of those revelations were happy or peaceful things. Two people foresaw their own deaths. One of them saw his death in the implosion of the device during the scuffle over it.”
“If he saw that, then why didn’t he leave the salvage vessel?”
“He saw it,” Roux explained, “but that doesn’t mean we understood how it was going to happen. Or when. But seeming manifestation of power like that hooked the Andrianou family. Captain Andrianou had a dream about me, and that dream revealed certain things I had hoped would remain in my past.”
“Like what?”
“Other clockworks I have found over the years.”
“How many?”
“That’s not relevant.”
“See?” Garin complained. “I told you. Stonewalls you every time. Never gives you a straight answer when he can lie.”
Annja forced herself to be calm in spite of having to put up with Roux and Garin at their worst. Second worst, she amended. At least they’re not trying to kill each other at the moment. “What about you, Roux?”
“What about me?”
“Did the clockwork snail reveal anything to you in a dream?”
“He’s not going to tell you,” Garin snarled.
“I did dream,” Roux replied in a beatific tone. “I dreamed Garin was a seething, enflamed hemorrhoid that had no cure.”
“All right,” Annja said quickly, “that’s enough. You’re both so wound up over each other that you’re forgetting you have bigger problems. Melina Andrianou and her family. While you’re sitting there talking, she could be closing in on the man who sold the clockwork butterfly.”
That stopped them.
Then Roux said, “Garin?”
“It’s possible. She paid him off to allow her a chance to kill me.”
“Do you know where this man is?”
Garin hesitated before answering, “No.” He sounded contrite.
Roux cursed. “Do you know where this man got that clockwork?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll need to get a few things from my house, then I’ll join you. Are you going to see to Annja’s travel needs? Or shall I?”
“I’ve already got a jet standing by at Logan International Airport. All she has to do is get there.”
“Fine,” Annja said. “Where am I going?”
Garin reluctantly gave up the destination. “Genoa.”
Annja smiled. “The beach. I’ll need clothes. I’d only packed winterwear.”
“It will be taken care of. When will you reach the airport?”
Annja rolled from the bed and stood. “I’m packing now.” She opened the drawers and scooped the few things she’d brought into the carryall. “I’ll be out the door in five minutes.” Sleep was forgotten. “I’m going to need better pictures of the clockwork butterfly so I can work on the flight over.”
“I’ll get them to you.”
“I’m on my way.” Annja broke the connection, grabbed underwear, khaki cargo pants and a pullover sweater out of her bag, then zipped it closed and got dressed. She put on her coat, shoved the tablet PC in her backpack, which she then slung over her shoulder, grabbed her carry-on and headed for the door.
17
“I know what you’re thinking, Bahadir Eyuboglu.”
Seated in an uncomfortable chair with his hands tied behind him, Eyuboglu was actually thinking many things. He was thinking that he wished he’d never met up with the man who had bought the strange mechanical butterfly. That making the deal to kill that man was perhaps the worst thing he could have done. That he should have left Florence and returned to Turkey, and that the men there who had sworn to kill him could not possibly be as frightening as the woman standing in front of him.
And he was thinking he was going to die here in this decrepit basement with the water-stained stone walls that felt like a tomb.
“Do you want me to tell you what you’re thinking right now?” The woman stared down at him without expression.
“I will do whatever you want.”
“I know, but you see...that’s part of the problem. You’re very afraid.”
“I am.” Eyuboglu nodded. Sweat trickled down his face and into his eyes. That made him blink, and he was afraid to do that because he knew there was every possibility that he would die in that instant.
“You’ll lie to me.”
“No. Never. I swear.” Eyuboglu could smell his fear, a sour, pungent scent that made him want to throw up. But he was afraid to do that, too, because the woman might take offense.
“You will. You won’t be able to stop yourself. In most people, lying is a necessary survival skill. With you, it’s a vocation.”
Eyuboglu shook his head as tears and sweat ran freely now. The plastic ties around his wrists bit into
his flesh. The ones around his ankles that bound his legs to the chair had caused his feet to go numb. “I swear.” His voice was a hoarse croak.
The single light that hung overhead felt hot and played tricks with his vision. When the woman leaned in just right, he could see her face. Then she would withdraw into the curtain of shadows just beyond the light.
“Where did you get the mechanical butterfly?”
Eyuboglu didn’t hesitate even though the big man he’d sold it to had promised he would kill him if he told. He had believed the man, but he wasn’t here in this small basement at the moment. That was a thing to be afraid of later, after he convinced this woman to release him. Eyuboglu intended to leave Florence and never come back. He would live a very small life in Istanbul. So small no one would ever find him again.
“From a marine salvager in Genoa. His name is Sebastiano Troiai. Check. I am telling you the truth.” Eyuboglu prayed silently, listening to the woman talk to someone else in a language he thought sounded Greek.
She returned her attention to him. “How are you connected to him?”
“We do business together. He finds artifacts under the ocean. I know people who like to collect such artifacts. For a price, I put Troiai’s findings into the hands of others.”
“For two prices, you mean. You collect at both ends.”
That wasn’t something Eyuboglu would admit to under normal circumstances, but these were not normal circumstances. “Yes. Yes.” He shrugged. “Neither party had to know. Neither truly cared.”
“Where did Troiai find the clockwork artifact?”
In that instant, Eyuboglu knew he was in trouble. If he told the woman the truth, that he didn’t know, she might not believe him. She would torture him until she was sure of his answer.
However, if he lied, she would believe him till she knew differently. By that time, though, he hoped to be long gone. “Off the coast. Two point three miles. Troiai found the shipwreck after a storm. He says storms sometimes do that to the seafloor, make it turn over so hidden things are revealed. He was there recovering a pleasure craft that had sunk during the storm.”
“What was the name of the ship?”